This invention relates to a method and apparatus for fitting ready-made garments to individual persons and to a garment retailing system applicable to store, catalog and internet retailing.
In the ready-made clothing industry, the supply chain from the manufacturer to the consumer has become very inefficient in respect to the ordering and inventory of goods to meet the actual needs of the consumer. A particularly difficult problem in this supply process involving ready-made garments is that of specifying garment sizes in sufficient detail to satisfy the widely varying needs of consumers with respect to the fit of ready-made garments. In today""s marketplace, the need for ready-made garments is supplied by mass production of many types of garments with a wide range of sizes in each type which are offered for purchase by the individual consumer in the retail store, by catalog order or internet order. In the purchasing process by the consumer, the most troublesome problem is that of finding a garment which fits the individual person""s body in such manner that it provides both comfort and appearance desired by the purchaser. Yet, the size of the ready-made garment is conventionally designated to the consumer by size labels which are so general that the consumer usually has to try on several garments to find a suitable fit. In garments such as shirts, blouses and jackets the size is commonly indicated on the garment as large, medium or small. In garments such as trousers, the size is commonly given by two numbers indicating waist size and leg length. Given the wide variety in size and configuration of the human physique coupled with different personal tastes in the fitting of garments, the limited information given by size labels leaves the consumer to a process of trial and error in selecting a garment with a satisfactory fit.
When a consumer purchases a garment, for example a pair of jeans, the consumer begins the process by searching through a stack of jeans that are labelled by the manufacturer with a waist dimension and an inseam dimension. The consumer may, at considerable risk of misfit, purchase the jeans based on the stated xe2x80x9csizesxe2x80x9d or may go through the trial and error process of trying on the jeans in a fitting room. It is well-known that there is a significant variation in the fit of different garments which are labelled with the same size. Such variations may be the result of various factors including manufacturing tolerances, mislabeling, marketing efforts, shrinking and variation of styles.
The purchasing process in the ready-made garment industry may be characterized as a trial and error selection of a satisfactorily fitting garment. This is a burden on the consumer and is reflected, with different degrees of severity, in retailing inefficiency of store sale, catalog sales and internet sales because of the need for returns and exchanges of ill-fitting garments and the accompanying problems of inventory control and goodwill.
In these circumstances, there is a need for improving the efficiency of the purchasing process of ready-made garments.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided a method of fitting a ready-made garment to the body of an individual person with a fit which meets the individual person""s preference. This is accomplished having said person select from a person""s own wardrobe an existing garment which has a preferred fit and measuring a prescribed set of critical dimensions of the garment. The critical dimensions are recorded along with an identification of the individual person and one or more garments are manufactured having said critical dimensions.
Further, in accordance with this invention, the method of fitting a garment to an individual person""s body is applied and used in the ready-made garment industry by both the garments manufacturers and garment retailers. The method, as used by a manufacture, comprises the establishment of a set of critical garment dimensions for each type of garment to be manufactured and manufacturing one or more garments of a given type with critical dimensions having a prescribed unique set of values which correspond to the preferred fit for at least one individual person. Further, in accordance with the invention, a garment retailer maintains an inventory of said given type of garment in the range of different sizes each of which is specified by a unique set of critical dimensions.
Further, in accordance with this invention, the retailer which may be a store, catalog or internet retailer, accepts orders from individual persons for a garment having that individual person""s preferred fit with a size specification which comprises a unique set of values for each of the critical dimensions.
A complete understanding of this invention may be obtained from the detailed description that follows taken with the accompanying drawings.